The present invention relates generally to lighting systems, and more specifically, to systems, devices and methods for lighting having multiple modes of operation.
Many systems for lighting a space in or around a home, office or industrial building have multi-functional capabilities. For instance, such systems may provide lighting for daytime or operational lighting, night lighting and emergency lighting. These various capabilities may be designed, for example, to maximize the amount of light generated in a space during working hours, while providing sufficient light to provide guidance or avoid safety issues during non-working hours or emergency situations, and also reducing electricity costs during non-working hours. Further, such systems may incorporate a plurality of different lighting devices that in combination achieve the multiple modes of operation. However, such combinations of different lighting fixtures can be costly and may be complicated to implement. In response to these issues, systems have been developed that incorporate one type of lighting device with multi-functional features, thereby providing the versatility, cost savings and overall utility of requiring only a single lighting fixture within the system. These lighting fixtures provide multi-functional features, however, they also have a number of disadvantages. Current multi-functional fixtures may utilize a single lamp that could have many hours of use, which could reduce the reliability of the lamp when it is required for emergency situations. Further, such multi-functional fixtures may have two different lamps, however, each lamp may be connected to a single electrical circuit. Again, due to the multiple use of the circuit, the circuit's reliability in emergency situations may be compromised. Additionally, such fixtures may not have the versatility of being fixed or portable units or the durability to withstand impacts and resist burning. Thus, due to these and other disadvantages of current multi-functional lighting devices, an improved multi-functional lighting device and corresponding systems and methods of lighting are needed.